Collections To Go

Eight Museums Where You Can Take Home A Gift Of Their World In Miniature

December 14, 1990|By Text by Lawrence Bommer.

A good museum store is in effect the collection in miniature. Of course, this stuff you can take home or give to others for study or pleasure.

What follows are colorful and characteristic items from the stores of eight Chicago museums, with a few of their holiday specials thrown in for last-minute gift-buying. Museum members generally get 5 to 20 percent discounts.

But don`t be limited by this list. Many other museums also have gift shops; we just don`t have space to list them all. For example, the Museum of Contemporary Art has a funky offering of cutting-edge artwork, the Museum of Broadcasting has Howdy Doody and other ventriloquist dolls (never call them

``dummies``) on sale, and the Spertus Museum of Judaica has many festive Hanukkah gifts.

The museum has three stores; the principal one is off the entrance lobby on the Michigan Avenue side and is highly patronized by Loop shoppers, while a smaller store is near the Columbus Drive entrance. A third ``satellite shop`` just opened on the second floor at 900 N. Michigan Ave. (call for hours;

482-8275). All three reflect the museum`s wide-ranging collection-sometimes, as in the many reproductions available, literally. There`s a wide selection of gifts, jewelry and other objets d`art, all chosen for their educational or historical value. (Interestingly, there are no sculptural reproductions; the museum believes they only trivialize the real thing.)

- A handmade wooden puzzle designed in England that depicts Seurat`s

``Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte`` ($250).

- Advent calendar in form of museum`s facade; little doors open to reveal a masterpiece a day ($13).

- Creche puzzle-a very popular item; a 20-piece manger-scene puzzle filled with colorful wooden animals and characters, with its own frame ($28). - German glass ornaments-also popular, hand-blown, hand-painted works from Germany made from 19th Century molds ($32).

As you`d expect from a store that belongs to the museum ``where you can explore the world of nature in the city,`` the natural sciences and nature items figure strongly in the inventory-field guides, bird watching manuals, wood carvings.